France Faces Left-right Elysee Showdown

In the end it came down to the long-predicted "Sarko versus Ségo" runoff, a race between the man who has cast himself as the new stern father of France and the woman who styles herself as the mother of the nation, promising to guide it gently into the future.

Despite the fears of upsets over recent weeks, the French today voted for a traditional left-right presidential finale that will set the nation debating how to fix its economy while preserving its unique social model.

Ahead are two weeks of frantic rallying and a likely head-to-head TV debate in the race for a leader who can kickstart a stagnant economy and hold together a fragmented society where those on rundown housing estates feel the slightest spark could ignite new riots.

Record numbers of voters are poised to decide on May 6. Political TV shows are registering vast primetime audiences, sales are up in the ailing print media; rappers, sportsmen and actors are mobilising and more than 80% of people say it is their main topic of conversation.

So many voters raced to polling centres in today's first round that long queues formed by mid morning in Paris. People were turned away and told to come back later.

Twelve years under Jacques Chirac has left voters mistrustful of the elitist political class. Economic growth is sluggish, public debt has risen to 66% of GDP and unemployment is the worst for any major industrial power, with up to 50% of young people jobless on the most downtrodden estates.

For the past 25 years, France has only known two presidents: François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. Now commentators are heralding a new generation in their 50s, the first potential leaders born after the second world war.

For months, the candidates' buzzword has been "change". Mr Sarkozy has preached "rupture" or a clean break with his one-time mentor, Mr Chirac, towards loosened labour laws and easier hiring and firing in a more free market economy. A hardliner on crime, he wants tighter laws on delinquency and more convictions, and has promised to restore France's "pride in itself", setting up a ministry for "immigration and national identity". His supporters say he is the only one strong enough to curb strikes and force economic change; his detractors say he is divisive and dangerously authoritarian.

Ségolène Royal has run on "less brutal" change that would preserve social safety nets and raise the minimum wage, promising to "listen to the people" and reform the monarchic, all-powerful presidency and weak parliament. Supporters say she understands people's everyday concerns; critics say she lacks political experience and cannot unite her fractured party.

For the second round, the candidates are likely to relaunch their campaigns and rewrite their slogans. Mr Sarkozy's team have insisted he will remain focused on "change", which he will hammer home at five big rallies beginning in Dijon tomorrow and ending next week in the south of France, where he has already used his favoured themes to win voters away from the far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Ms Royal will begin a round of rallies in the southern town of Montpellier this week, and is likely to end her campaign in Lille, the traditional left stronghold in a northern region blighted by unemployment, symbolic of the working class who have deserted the left.

Outside polling stations in central Paris today, voters raised topics like unemployment, consistently the nation's number one worry, as well as spending power, foreign policy and France's place in Europe.

"I would like this next battle to be focused on policy but I feel it will all come down to personality," said Vincent Judit, 27, an ironmonger, after voting in the fourth arrondissement. He had always voted right but today chose the centrist, François Bayrou, although with him out he would back Mr Sarkozy in the next round because "France needs renewal".

Monique Brun, 64, a medical researcher, had voted for Ms Royal. "Unemployment and jobs for the young must be the focus of this next stage," she said, but feared a TV debate would be difficult. "She comes across as a bit fragile. It won't be easy."